Wisdom Wednesday – Yoshie

Yoshie (hopefully I’m spelling that right!) – was my parents’ Japanese maid while they were living in Japan. I have heard a lot of stories about her. I do know that I heard everyone talk about her fondly. For many years, she and my parents exchanged Christmas cards and letters. I wonder what happened to her and her family.

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Travel Tuesday – Bremerhaven, Germany

WELCOME TO BREMERHAVEN

My grandfather, Glen R. Johnson, was transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany in 1950 (before the Army Air Corps became the Air Force). Upon arriving at the Port of Bremerhaven aboard the Gen. Patch on July 20, 1950, the U.S. Band greeted him and my grandmother, Vesta. Wikipedia says that Bremerhaven means “Bremen’s Harbor” in Bremen (which was in the free Federal Republic of Germany).

The ship – USNS General Alexander M. Patch (T-AP-122) (picture of it as it is berthed at Bremerhaven in 1950 can be found here - exciting to think that this might just be at the same time my grandparents had arrived!) was named after the General who took “command of the Allied Forces in New Caledonia” in 1942 (from NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive; 2012; NavSource Naval History)

Luckily, while they were in Germany, they were able to take side trips to other places on the weekends. The picture above was taken on August 5, 1950, when they went with another lady, Mrs. Mulligan, along with a Bavarian guide to see the Nymphenburg Castle, Home of the Bavarian Kings.

Besides all of the photos, I also have several years’ worth of letters my grandparents wrote my parents. Those letters detail all the little trips around Europe they took as well as their day to day life in Wiesbaden.

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Wedding Wednesday – John and Katie

John Lafayette Johnson and Katie J. Blazer

My maternal great-grandparents (on my grandfather’s side), John Lafayette Johnson and Katie J. Blazer, were married on July 4, 1883, in Anderson, Madison County, Indiana.  He was a few months over 22 years old and she was close to 19. Since both were “of age” according to the laws of the time, neither needed a parental signature.

The couple was just shy of celebrating their 47th wedding anniversary when Katie died on May 20, 1930 (trivia: my wedding anniversary is on the anniversary of her death – May 20!).

Below is a picture of the couple in older age.

(Source 1: Anderson, Madison, Indiana, 1880-1920, Book 1, Page 393; County Clerk’s Office, 16 East 9th, 2nd House, Box 19, Anderson, Indiana, 46016. FamilySearch – Indiana Marriages Database

Source 2: Glen R. Johnson, Sr., personal genealogy notes, in possession of Wendy Littrell, address for private use)

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Those Places Thursday – Bethlehem Grange Hall

 

The Bethlehem Grange Hall in Coshocton County, Ohio about 1968 during the Amore – Baker Reunion. This is the building where we – descendents of Henry and Annie Amore – would all gather. There would be plenty of food – it was always pot luck – and conversation. I’m sure at some point there was the “business” end of it – electing the officers for the next year to put together the next reunion, keep track of the funds, and plan any “entertainment.” The two men in the photo above are my Uncle Paul and my dad (wearing the hat and camera). Behind my dad it appears to be a child who is in the middle of a game of horseshoes!

The July 28, 1968 issue of the Coshocton Tribune reported:  ”The Amore-Baker reunion was held Saturday, July 20, at Bethlehem Grange Hall with 70 in attendance. The oldest member of the family present was Rev. I. Amore, Coshocton, who is 91 and the youngest was five-month-old Lucinda Lee, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Yeater, Nashville, Ohio.”

 

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(Not Quite) Wordless Wednesday

George and Jo Littrell

(original photo in possession of Wendy Littrell, Address for private use)

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(Not Quite) Wordless Wednesday – Sisters Talking

Marie and Gertrude Amore

sisters, talking

my paternal aunts

Coshocton, Ohio

(original and digital photo owned by Wendy Littrell)

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Tombstone Tuesday – Anna B Sheild

My grandfather took this picture of friend, Mary Lou Sowers, at the gravestone of Anna B Sheild, wife of W.H. Sheild. It was at the family cemetery at Moore House, Yorktown, Virginia. Even though the surname is familiar – these are not the Shield’s who married into my Johnson family. I believe one of the reasons this photo was taken is because of the incorrect date etched into the gravestone of February 30 – the last time I checked, February never had 30 days!

For more information about Moore House, please refer to Moore House – Yorktown National Battlefield (or just google it!).

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Funeral Card Friday – My Aunt

  

I never got to meet my mom’s older sister. She passed away three and a half years before I was born. Genevieve Vesta Johnson was born on June 9, 1920 in Anderson, Indiana. She married John F. Steffen in May 1942. My aunt was a nurse – a profession that her granddaughter and great-granddaughter also chose – women she never got to meet. Aunt Genevieve died on Friday, May 2, 1958 in Dayton, Ohio. Her funeral was held at St. Anthony’s in Dayton. She was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Kettering, Ohio. She was survived by her two young daughters and son as well as her husband, her parents, a brother (my Uncle Glen) and her sister (my mom) along with two nieces and two nephews. She was always remembered and spoken of very often.

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Treasure Chest Thursday – Items in a Box (Part 1)

Many (many!) years ago during one of my visits to my hometown, my mom pulled out a couple of small boxes of photos and told me I could take them. She and I went through them, picture by picture, in order for her to tell me who, what, when, where, etc. – because NO ONE WROTE IT DOWN! So I brought the boxes home and as the case may be – I acquired more small boxes of photos as the years progressed. After my brother passed away, his son gave me a lot of photos and memorabilia because he didn’t want it (due to an estrangement at the time of my brother’s death). Then, after my mother passed away three years ago, I ended up with what she still had.

Through the years I have scanned this photo and that. Written about this photo or that. I’ve scanned documents and letters and taken digital photos of “stuff”. In order to really see what I have, all of the papers, photos, documents, and ephemera need to be filed and cataloged. I started with just one small box of photos the other day. What I didn’t already have a digital copy of, I made one. What I had, was tagged with the who, what, when, and where (or as much as I knew!).

For the next several Thursday’s (and other days for other blog posts), I will be writing about items that were in a box. The first item is a picture of George Welch.

The caption on the front of the photo reads:

George went on a fishing trip last Sunday. There was 17 went they caught 43 fish which weighed about 600 lbs. 

This is a photo postcard and on the back it reads:

We took some pictures of the baby if they are any good we will send you some. Good Bye Your Children.

When I first read all of that, I had to figure out who George was. The postcard is addressed to Mr. F Clawson.  That would be Frank Clawson – my great-grandmother’s (Martha Stern Wilt) second husband. (He had previously been married to Martha’s sister, Margaret Ellen Stern. After Ellen died and after Martha and her husband, Joe Wilt (my great-grandfather), divorced, Frank married Martha. Frank and Ellen’s daughter, Nancy Jane Clawson, married George Welch in Anderson, Indiana on November 29, 1905 (Source – Title: Marion County, Index to Marriage Record 1866 – 1870 Inclusive Vol, Original Record Located: County Clerk’s Office Ind; Book: 165). The couple ended up in California with two daughters – Dorothy Ellen and Lenore.

What strikes me about the photo is that George is pretty dressed up – at least to our contemporary way of thinking – to go fishing. He sure is a well dressed, handsome young man!  George was born on March 24, 1885 in Plainfield, Indiana (Title: Marion County, Index to Marriage Record 1866 – 1870 Inclusive Vol, Original Record Located: County Clerk’s Office Ind; Book: 165). 

Below is a photo of Nancy as a young girl with her parents, Frank and Ellen Clawson.

Nancy would be by first cousin twice removed. (Our common ancestor would be her grandparents – Emanuel and Nancy Stern – they were my 2nd great-grandparents.)  Nancy and my maternal grandmother – Vesta Wilt Johnson – were first cousins because their mothers were sisters.

So stay tuned for the next segment of Items from a Box! I never know what I’m going to find!

 

 

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Travel Thursday – Over the Rainbow (Part 5)

So sorry that there has been a bit of a lag between Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. This should be the final chapter of what I call “My Trip Out West” – or as the title suggests – “Over the Rainbow.”  After all, I was only four years old – almost five. So everything about this trek from Ohio to the Pacific Ocean and back was magical!

In the last installment, Mom, Dad, and I were finishing up our time at Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, and Marine Land in California. From there we drove to Victorville, California which sits on the edge of the Mojave Desert in San Bernadino County.

We spent September 21 and 22 at the home of Captain and Mrs. H.B. Alexander, friends of my parents. September 21 was my mother’s birthday. I thoroughly believed my mom was 29 because as is common, once she passed a “certain” birthday milestone, she always said she was only 29. Wow – imagine my surprise a couple of years later when I realized that she was much older than 29!  I was also confused when I realized my grandparents were also in the area!  They were on a tour of the western United States as well and it was probably by design that they were able to celebrate their daughter’s birthday.

     

Leaving the Alexander home, we traveled to the Grand Canyon. Breathtaking, beautiful, scenic, awesome are only a few words to describe what a magnificent wonder it is. When we had left California, the temperature was over 100 but as we got to the rim of the Canyon, the temperature had a drop of over 40 degrees. I remember wearing a sweater as we stood gazing out over such a majestic sight.

Leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove northeast toward Colorado Springs and the Air Force Academy. We stayed with the R.G. Schuster family and toured the Academy.

  

While there we saw 1800 cadets marching in formation and the beautiful Chapel. It is one building I will never forget being inside. On September 26 our western trip was complete and we began the drive back to Ohio, arriving on September 28.

There are many things I remember very well about the trip – items that weren’t part of a tour or a national park or a wonder of the world. Mom had packed a hot plate because even though we were able to stay in the homes of so many family and friends, we were also in a lot of motels!  The hot plate enabled her to heat up oatmeal for breakfast or a can of soup for lunch.

A lot of my breakfasts (when not at a home or in a restaurant)   were Keebler Cinnamon Graham Crackers and milk (hey, I loved it and still eat it!!). I can remember restaurants we ate at or purchased food to go from: Jerry’s (I think it was like Denny’s), Kentucky Fried Chicken (before it went by it’s initials!), and Howard Johnson’s (which is a hotel chain but we’d eat at the restaurant). I remember laundry mats – and oh goodness, there were many laundry mats that Mom and I were at washing clothes. Well, she washed and dried, and I sat and watched. I believe a lot of them were a dime. Mom would always need dimes. I remember lying across the backseat of the Pontiac either sleeping or trying not to give in to my car sickness. Every once in awhile, Dad would rouse me so I could “see the sights” – something he knew that I just had to see!  Except for the accident. I don’t know where it was but we were bumper to bumper on the road.  As we got closer, and my parents saw the ambulance (back then, they looked like a hearse) and the emergency vehicles, my Dad realized that whatever it was – was very, very bad. He told me to keep lying down and not to look.  I think later after I was older, Mom told me that it was a fatality and there was lots of blood. I also remember the little Wet Naps we always got – especially at KFC. And guess what I thought those little sudsy napkins were for? Cleaning the car windows!!  That was a big mistake!  Those windows I so carefully “cleaned” were loaded with streaks and probably were dirtier than when I started!

Oh – and going over the rainbow? Yes, I feel as if I certainly did!  At one point, after my mother could not stand to listen to me asking if we were in Kansas and where was Dorothy’s house, she pointed to a run down farm house and said – “That’s Dorothy’s house!” I spent many years believing that I saw the actual house!  (Ok, then I thought that maybe it was the “actual” house from the film until Mom told me she just could not stand to hear me ask that question one more time!)  So I don’t know if we were in Kansas (which would have been on the way back to Ohio – so I think we were probably in Montana or Idaho when she did that!).  I was young enough to see Disneyland as a child would but old enough to be able to remember quite a bit about that trip. And I have tons of pictures to help me remember!

I hope you have enjoyed my Travel Thursday series of Over the Rainbow!  I hope to begin a new series soon!

Sources: 

Personal knowledge and written description published in the Beavercreek News (Beavercreek, Ohio), Oct. 19, 1966.

Wikipedia Article online for “Victorville California”, 27 July 2012.

Photo of Cinnamon Graham Crackers: Keebler.com, 2012. Kellogg.

Photo of Rainbow: Rainbow in the sky by Jonathon Coombes (Public Domain)

All Other Photos taken by Gene or Mary Amore, digital or original slide/print owned by Wendy J Littrell, address for private use. 

Copyright for this blog post 2011 Wendy J Littrell.
No part of this blog post may be used or reproduced without explicit permission from the author and must be linked back to this blog

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